In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Guest Post: Law Of The Sea Tribunal Implies A Principle Of Reasonableness In UNCLOS Article 73

17 Apr

[Craig H. Allen is the Judson Falknor Professor of Law and of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington.] On April 14, 2014, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) issued its ruling in the M/V Virginia G case (Panama/Guinea-Bissau), Case No. 19.  The dispute arose out of  Guinea-Bissau’s 2009 arrest of the Panama-flag coastal tanker M/V Virginia G after it was detected bunkering (i.e., delivering fuel to) several Mauritanian-flag vessels fishing in the Guinea-Bissau exclusive economic zone (EEZ) without having obtained a bunkering permit.  The case presented a number of issues, including whether the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which both states are party, grants a coastal state competency to control bunkering activities by foreign vessels in its EEZ. After disposing of objections raised over jurisdiction and admissibility (notwithstanding the parties’ special agreement transferring the case to ITLOS), the decision adds a substantial gloss to several articles of the UNCLOS, particularly with respect to Article 73 on enforcement of coastal state laws regarding the conservation and management of living resources in the EEZ. Among other things, Panama alleged that Guinea-Bissau violated each of the four operative paragraphs of Article 73 in its boarding, arrest and confiscation of the Virginia G and by seizing and withholding the passports of its crew for more than 4 months. The tribunal’s holding can be summarized as follows: 
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17 Apr

I would like to continue the theme of the emerging convergence of investment arbitration and international trade. In my previous posts (discussed here and here) I discussed the prospect of using trade remedies to enforce investment arbitration awards. Another key example of convergence addresses the emerging trend of relying on investment arbitration to enforce international trade rights. ...

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13 Apr

Event The British Institute of International and Comparative Law and Cambridge University Press invite you to the International and Comparative Law Quarterly Annual Lecture 2014, to be held at Charles Clore House at 5.30-7.30pm on Tuesday 20th May. Professor Mindy Chen-Wishart of Merton College, Oxford will deliver a lecture entitled: ‘Legal Transplant and Undue Influence: Lost in Translation or a Working Misunderstanding’,...

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12 Apr

I fully concur with Julian's recent post about the United Nations Headquarters Agreement. There is no question that the US decision to deny Aboutalebi a visa violates the Agreement itself. But I've seen suggestions, most notably by my friend John Bellinger, that the US is not violating domestic US law because the 1947 United Nations Headquarters Agreement Act (scroll down) contains a "security...

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09 Apr

Back in 2007, Messrs David Rivkin and Lee Casey's Wall Street Journal op-ed helped popularize the term "lawfare" among U.S. conservatives, who have used the term to decry legal tactics that challenged US policy in the war on terrorism.   As they defined it then: The term "lawfare" describes the growing use of international law claims, usually factually or legally meritless, as a tool...

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02 Apr

This July and August, we are bringing back our Emerging Voices symposium! If you are a doctoral student or in the early stages of your career (e.g., post-docs, junior academics or early career practitioners within the first five years of finishing your final degree) and would like to share your research with our readers, please send a 200-word summary of your...

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31 Mar

Here is the ICJ's decision in "Whaling in the Antarctic" (Australia v. Japan, New Zealand intervening).  Here is the Registry's summary. The vote was unanimous on jurisdiction, and then 12-4 on the rest in Australia's favor with judges Owada, Abraham, Bennouna, Yusuf dissenting.  There was one aspect of the decision that went in favor of Japan (13-3) but that aspect of...

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30 Mar

Just in time for the odd Sunday filing deadline, the government of the Philippines announced that it had submitted its memorial in its arbitration with China under UNCLOS. Ignoring a possible backlash from China, the Philippine government transmitted the document, called a “memorial” in international arbitration parlance, on Sunday to the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration where a five-member tribunal operating...

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30 Mar

Just follow the lead of Henry Okah, a Nigerian national recently convicted in South Africa (under universal jurisdiction) of terrorism-related offences in the Niger delta. Here are the key paragraphs from the trial court's decision: [28] The correctness of copies of 3 journals kept by the accused in his own handwriting was admitted. In these journals the accused made notes in from...

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30 Mar

Events The Cardozo School of Law is hosting a panel on Privacy, Security, and Secrecy after Snowden on April 2, 2014 - 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., moderated by our own Deborah Pearlstein. From the website: Edward Snowden's recent disclosures about the NSA's surveillance activities have raised important national security and civil liberty questions: How effective is the NSA's surveillance? What are its costs...

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